Raman Lamba born on January 2, 1960, was known for his swashbuckling stroke-play and was a prolific run-getter in domestic circuit. His life was cruelly cut short after he was hit on the for...Full profile

Raman Lamba born on January 2, 1960, was known for his swashbuckling stroke-play and was a prolific run-getter in domestic circuit. His life was cruelly cut short after he was hit on the forehead by a pull shot from Mehrab Hossain. He soon went into a coma and died on February 20, 1998.

If we look back at his career, Lamba made his First-Class debut in 1978-79. During the formative years of his First-Class cricket, Lamba was largely inconsistent and most of his big scores had come against weaker opponents. So, it surprised one-and-all when he was selected for the tour of England in 1986. At that time, Lamba's aggressive game in some quarters was believed to be not suited to Test cricket. On expected lines, he didn't play a single Test in England.

It was Lamba smashing a scintillating fifty on his ODI debut against Australia in Jaipur in 1986-87 that caught the eye of everyone. More was to come from the bat of Lamba, as he blazed his way to a thrill-a-minute innings of 74 in Delhi. In that game, he thwacked the opposition bowlers to all corners of the ground. He ended that series with a century in Rajkot. Lamba thumping Craig McDermott for a six over point in one of the matches of that series is still remembered fondly by fans and experts alike. Lamba, however, soon lost his form and found himself out of the ODI side.

Lamba made his Test debut in Kanpur in 1986-87. Unfortunately, he was run-out for 24 in his first innings in Test cricket. But he played with a mature head on his shoulders to compose a fifty on a difficult wicket in Nagpur in 1986. But India then had a superb batting line-up and as a result, he again found himself in the wilderness. Lamba though, served a timely reminder to the selectors with an aggressive century against Pakistan in a tour game during that time.

Despite being ignored for the 1987 World Cup held in the subcontinent, Lamba's glorious spread of run-scoring in domestic cricket was hard to ignore. In the 1987-88 First-Class season he aggregated 1,097 runs at a staggering average of 84.38. He was in the form of his life in the Duleep Trophy by essaying a slew of hundreds. If that was not enough, during the next season, he made his presence felt by averaging over 60.

All those runs helped him to make a comeback into the Indian Test team. Unfortunately, he had to play the mighty West Indies on his return to the side. He found the pace of Winston Davis and Patrick Patterson too hot to handle as he could make scores of just 1 and 0 in the Test played in Delhi at the end of 1987. Patterson bowled so quick during the second innings that Lamba couldn't even get his back-lift down as the ball sent his stumps for a walk in the park!

Lamba though, didn't lose heart as he continued to flay attacks in domestic cricket. All those runs again bore fruit as he was selected for the Nehru Cup in 1989. Lamba put up consistent performances at top of the order in that tournament. He was also selected for the tour of Pakistan in 1989, but he couldn't make his mark in any of the ODIs he played and that tour turned out to be the last time he played for his country. Lamba still remained one of the top batsmen going around in domestic cricket and was in supreme form whenever he would play in Bangladesh. But the door on playing for India again seemed to be permanently shut for the brave cricketer.

For a man, who seemed to live and breathe cricket, he met a tragic death. Lamba was playing for Abahani Krira Chakra against Mohammedan Sporting in Dhaka’s Premier League in 1998. It is believed that Khaled Mashud, his captain, asked him to wear a helmet as he was fielding at short leg. Lamba though didn't and the next ball, he was lying down on the ground after being hit by Mehrab. He was kept alive on the back of a life support system, until his wife Kim Michelle Crothers arrived. He passed away on February 22, 1998.